In the Nike case, the federal prosecutors said Mr. Avenatti represented a coach whose team recently did not have its contract with Nike renewed, according to the court documents. Mr. Avenatti told Nike that he had evidence that at least three former high school players were paid by Nike in ways that were intended to be concealed, the documents said. Mr. Avenatti said he would refrain from publicizing his evidence if Nike paid $1.5 million to his client, who is not named, the court documents said. He also demanded that Nike hire him and another lawyer to conduct an internal investigation, for billings worth between $15 million and $25 million, court documents said. According to the complaint, Avenatti told Nike that his client’s information, if publicized, would ultimately lower the value of Nike stock by billions of dollars.

Source: New York Times March 25, 2019 17:16 UTC